Sweet Death I

Name: Aurora Álvarez Moreno 

Age: 25 years old 

Details of death: Murdered by Diego Santos in a private booth at 10:00 pm. 

Collect her soul at the allotted time for processing and posterior judgment at Reapers Organization for Transportation of Souls. 

Maddox tapped the scroll with his gloved hands before closing it completely. He didn’t want to stare at her picture any longer. Youthful as she looked, it seemed a pity that her life would be cut short in such a way. The files dissipated into nothingness, leaving behind only smoke. 

His head, a large heap of black fire, licked the roof of the Black Chevy Malibu he’d borrowed—according to many souls, it was a sweet ride, whatever that meant, so he couldn’t pass the opportunity—without burning it. He had no eyes, no mouth, or any features. Just a floating black flame on top of a human-like body wrapped in an English-cut white suit that gleamed in the veil of night. But he could see, and the eyes on each of his raven wings could see much more. 

A dog bark startled him. Maddox leaned at the side window, and the eyes in his wings blinked, trying to focus, unused to the brightness of the human electric lights. However, their orange hue at night was beautiful compared to the dim blue fires at R.O.T.S. 

     So, this is what dogs sound like, he thought. 

The eyes in his wings crinkled, and he wished to pet its fur. A mortal—an elderly man who died asleep, as read in the case file—was processed with a dog in his lap. Before the old man was taken, he talked about how soft its fur was. Maddox wanted to know if that was true. 

The dog’s soul, a beautiful spark in the middle of its tiny chest, glinted angrily inside as he continued barking.  

“What are you barking at, Buddy?” said the woman in a voice Maddox found rather odd. The woman’s soul, in comparison, was a steady flame, the marks of a good doer or perhaps a person with few tribulations. 

“There’s nothing there,” she said. “Just an empty old car. Come on, boy.” 

The dog kept barking as they walked away. Even in the distance, Maddox could still see their corresponding flames until swallowed by the darkness. 

“Maddox.” 

His twin’s voice echoed inside his mind as their spiritual link vibrated within like a plucked cord in a cherub’s harp. The tingle was powerful, which meant that Addox was going about his archangel duties close by. 

    “What on the realm’s holy name are you doing?” Addox asked, his voice like steel.